Yuba Raj Khatiwada appointed Ambassador to the United States

Kathmandu: President Bidhyadevi Bhandari has appointed Yuba Raj Khatiwada as Nepal’s ambassador to the United States.

In a statement issued on Tuesday, President Bhandari appointed Khatiwada as US Ambassador on the recommendation of the Council of Ministers of the Government of Nepal in accordance with Article 282 of the Constitution of Nepal.

Earlier, the cabinet meeting had recommended the appointment of Khatiwada, a former finance minister and economic adviser to the prime minister, as Nepal’s ambassador to the United States.

Khatiwada, who hails from a ‘professional career’, is one of the most privileged job seekers.

His career started as an officer of Nepal Rastra Bank. He was appointed governor of the National Bank by the former UML government.

Khatiwada was twice appointed vice-chairman of the National Planning Commission by the former UML government once before he was appointed governor and once after he became governor.

UML had taken Khatiwada to the National Assembly after the last election.

Khatiwada, who has worked closely with Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli for a long time, was made finance minister by him, ignoring the aspirations of many senior party leaders.

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Even after Khatiwada’s two-year term in the National Assembly, Oli gave him continuity as finance minister. Khatiwada had resigned from the post of finance minister on September 6 as per the constitutional provision that he can become a minister only for six months if he is not an MP.

In order to retain Khatiwada as finance minister, Prime Minister Oli had tried to appoint him to the National Assembly for a second term.

Oli had appointed Khatiwada as a special economic adviser after a majority in the CPN (Maoist) secretariat voted to take party vice-chairman Bamdev Gautam to the National Assembly.